


Waiting

by Makairia



Series: AvengerKink meme fills [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Clint has a dirty mouth, Clint needs to stop digging himself into a bigger hole, F/M, Gen, Natasha has a potentially lethal Gibbs Slap, Tony monologues...a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-29 05:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/683130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Makairia/pseuds/Makairia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AvengerKink prompt</p><blockquote>
  <p>I think I saw somewhere that Gwyneth Paltrow said Pepper and Tony haven't slept together at the time of The Avengers (which, based on the MCU timelines I have seen is about a year after IM2). </p>
  <p>I am a nosy little bugger and would like to know why.</p>
</blockquote>"Wait, so, you're telling me, Mister Genius-Billionaire-<i>Playboy</i>-Philanthropist, that you and Potts haven't done the dirty dance, yet?" Clint's tone was a strange mix of astonished and gleeful, and not even Natasha's elbow to his ribs could wipe the smirk off of his face."
            </blockquote>





	Waiting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Paraprosdokia (ChangeableConsistency)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeableConsistency/gifts).



> Prompt: [[x]](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/13316.html?thread=32325380)
> 
> A bit of a more serious take on this idea.
> 
> ~~cheesy title is cheesy I'm sorry~~
> 
> I've written about half of this on my tablet, and only gave it a cursory read through, so I apologize in advance for any errors. ^^

"Wait, so, you're telling me, Mister Genius-Billionaire- _Playboy_ -Philanthropist, that you and Potts haven't done the dirty dance, yet?" Clint's tone was a strange mix of astonished and gleeful, and not even Natasha's elbow to his ribs could wipe the smirk off of his face ("but seriously, _ouch_ , Nat! The hell was that for?").

Tony didn't even bother to look up from his tablet, fingers effortlessly gliding across the Smartglass.

"I was unaware that my sex life was any of your business, Barton, but, no. We haven't." Clint was a little put-off by Tony's use of his last name (after the team had thawed out a little, Tony rarely used Clint's actual name, instead coming up with silly, cheesy nicknames, and the reversion back to _Barton_ made Clint a little uneasy).

"Jesus Christ, Stark. The hell you waiting for, man? I can't believe you haven't tapped that yet!" This time, Clint's gleeful expression was thwarted by Natasha's special -- and potentially lethal -- version of the Gibbs Slap. " _Ow, motherfuckin' Jesus_ GOD! Sorry! Sorry!"

"Have you reverted back to speaking like a frat boy?" Clint couldn't explain why, but being brushed off like this from Tony was like a slap to the face.

"You're assuming that he ever quit." Clint leveled a sulky glare towards Natasha, but softened his eyes, taking the teasing as his due. 

Tony huffed out a little breath of air, somewhere between a snort and a sigh, an amused smile tugging the edges of his lips.

"Well, since you're so invested, let me see if I can clear it up for you. What does Miss Potts do?"

"Uh, she's your PA, right?" Clint's voice took an air of bemused tolerance.

"Mmhmm. But she's so much more than that: she takes my place in board meetings when I can't or won't; she organizes all of the events and charities associated with SI, from liaising with the Maria Stark Foundation to prepping for the Expo; she meets with foreign and native powers, and draws contracts for either clean energy or cease fires (seriously not kidding about privatizing world peace, you know)."

"So, what are you saying? You're not sleeping with her because she's busy?" Uh oh. Clint could feel Natasha's laser stare on his back. Time to tone it down a little.

"When I gave her my company three years ago, I wasn't kidding. I've been prepping her for that position for years. She gave it back, but we're getting closer to a Potts-ruled SI. Ditching important meetings, dropping stock prices then skyrocketing them, causing scandals? It wasn't _just_ me being an asshole. Those two weeks when she was in control of SI, there was too much shit going on for her to take any personal flak, and I did what I could to direct to brunt of it towards myself. But when she’s CEO of one of the largest and most successful Fortune 500 companies worldwide? There’s gonna be a shitstorm.

”And now that I’m part of the Avengers, I’m running out of time to do all of the shit necessary for SI, so I need someone I can trust to head things on the corporate side. And right now? That list is Pepper.

”But how’s that going to look from an outsider’s standpoint? From the Board’s? Shareholder's? Potts is only my PA, right? We all know that she’s more than qualified for the job, but realistically speaking, the jump from PA to CEO? That’s almost as bad as just pulling in the janitor or some shit in their eyes.

”So the obvious solution is that she worked on her knees and back for my position. After all, she’s a woman, right? Doesn’t matter that she’s more qualified for my job than I am, but they’re not going to take that sitting down. We don’t need to give them more ammunition.

”Despite what it looks like, there is rarely anything I do that doesn’t serve some greater purpose, Katniss.” Tony picked up his discarded tablet and glass (now just a pale, watery mess), before sauntering out of the room.

”And if you ever speak of Pepper like that again, Clint, I will end you.” Clint startled at Natasha’s voice, before nodding hurriedly, and hightailing it out of the room and up into the vents, missing the long-suffering smile lingering on Natasha’s face.

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: went back and caught a couple tense changes because ew.
> 
> 4/15/13 changed some punctuation. One of these days, I'll get around the to the whole thing. Today is not that day.


End file.
